(ok thats a lie, but it sucks, so if you guys think of a better one by tomorrow i'll use yours)

"I have to say, Slab, the class is growing on me."

"What, like a mold?" Beef cut in, jumping next to them from the side as he exited the kitchen.

Their classes were over for the day, and finally getting back into a routine, they were walking together off campus. It was a little colder than the first time, but it wasn't anything long sleeves or a slightly heavier jacket couldn't fix.

"No like- you know what I mean! The English expression." Doc frowned, rolling his eyes at Beef.

"Hmmm, so like moss then?" Etho added with a hum and hidden smile.

"You two are both insufferable."

"Aww you love us!" Beef cooed, slinging an arm over Doc's shoulder to pull him in for a side hug. It was a little awkward with Doc being so tall, but they were used to it.

"So how was Masterchef Junior?" Etho asked, acknowledging Beef properly.

"Oh go say that to Keralis and Ren! They're the ones actin' like toddlers in there." Beef started, "They've almost dropped half the plates we've used, and don't even mention the number of times I've had to stop them from sticking a fork in the microwave." He sighed overdramatically. "They can cook somehow, but it's a wonder they're both still in one piece as well."

Etho stiffened, not sure how Doc would react to the mention of Ren, but Doc just hummed. "Well what did you expect from those two? I'm surprised you haven't lost a finger yet working with them."

"Well I'm glad for that. Typing essays would be such a pain without a few of them." Beef laughed lightly, throwing a hand to the side to emphasize.

Etho yawned, stuffing his hands in his pocket to keep them warm. A harsher breeze flew past them, sending a shiver through all of them. The temperature was dropping more rapidly now, and Etho wasn't sure his fingerless gloves would do the trick on their own.

"Tired?"

"Yeah, bad sleep."

"Ok, which professor do we need to kidnap to cut the workload?" Beef asked with a grin. Doc didn't say anything, but nodded along with the joke anyway like they were serious.

"Oh no, it's not classwork this time actually."

"Oh?"

"Yeah I dunno. For once in my life I had too much energy to sleep?"

"Was it coffee keeping you up?" Beef asked.

"Didn't feel like it- but maybe?" Etho thought out loud, unsure.

"Was it stress?" Doc piped up. "The emotion or the person." He added with a quiet chuckle.

"I don't think so. I don't have anything to be stressed about." Etho paused, "I haven't talked to her all too recently, nor been thinking about anything to do with her either."

"Nerves for some social event or presentation or something?"

"Well I told Iskall they're doing all of the talking for the Science presentation, so probably not."

"Was it.... a good feeling?" Beef asked after a pause. Etho went quiet, looking at the ground for a second.

"Yeah." Etho shrugged casually. "Yeah it was." He thought to himself.

"Well then maybe it was worth the extra needed trip to caffeine heaven!" Beef smiled. "Which we are going to right now."

"Is that what you're calling it now?" Doc chuckled.

"Eh, doesn't roll off the tongue." Etho added.

"We'll see if it sticks." Beef smiled. "But off to the coffee shop nonetheless!"

----

It had been a hot second since it had been like this: the tree of them joining after class to head to the elusive "pretty good" coffee shop together. Etho was sure now the place was better than "pretty good" and had met whatever "standards" Doc claimed that Etho had, and it felt so homey he almost dared to think of it as one.

Light seeped through the glass windows, providing comfortable natural light that gave the entire room such a comfortable vibe Etho swore he could fall asleep in here someday. Maybe that's the real reason they served coffee, to stop anyone from doing just that and taking up all of the chairs they had.

"Maybe I'll try that one day." Etho thought absentmindedly. "Just to annoy Cleo."

Beef and Etho grabbed a table, coincidentally the same one they had grabbed the first time, with Doc offering to get the coffee this time around. Etho had paid for groceries last, and he felt like treating Beef, so he didn't let the other two walk over first.

"So anything interesting happening lately?" Beef offered light conversation. "Other than the party, that is." He added with a chuckle, and Etho felt included to laugh a little too. As much as it wasn't fun, he found it a little funny now. What a shitshow that ended up being, just like his dumb thoughts warned him of. Ha!

"Well sort of related to the party I guess, but Bdubs gave me free coffee the other day."

"Oh?" Beef encouraged him to continue.

"Yeah, truce now between us. Free coffee out of it." Etho said, not offering as much as Beef was hoping for.

"And why did you guys "truce"?"

"Oh I caught him really drunk at the party."

"Oohhh drama~" Beef wiggled his eyebrows.

Etho scoffed. "Nothin' serious, Beefers. He just apologized for actin' dumb and I said it was fine, and I got free coffee."

"You're really focusing on that coffee."

"It was good coffee."

"What type?"

"White Mocha." Etho answered automatically. "Why?"

"So Bdubs remembered that that's the one you like!"

"I order it every time. Doesn't take more brain cells than he has to make a guess."

"Throwing shade already!" Beef raised an eyebrow with a smile, "I thought you guys truced."

Etho grinned under his mask, but Beef could see it, "Doesn't stop me from some light teasing now does it? You tease me all the time."

"Friends tease. Are you calling Bdubs your friend?"

"Yeah?" Etho gave Beef a confused look. "Isn't that what I just said?"

"You said truce." Beef deadpanned.

"Same thing."

"Oh my god it is not!" Beef laughed. "No wonder me and Doc have to do all the talking around others when you can't even call someone a friend!"

"Ok fine! Bdubs is a friend."

"Aw my baby boy is all grown up!" Beef cooed, "Making friends on the playground aw by himsewf."

"I hope your coffee burns your tongue to shut you up."

Beef cackled quietly because they were still in public, all while Etho glared at him.

The bell rang, snapped Etho out of his stare, and saw Ren walking in. He was slightly curled in on himself, sunglasses hugging his face and tail lowered, walking with only about half of the confidence he usually had.

"That's probably still more than I have." Etho thought silently, trying not to stare at Ren still.

Instead of walking to Doc at the counter, he turned, heading in the direction their table was. He couldn't see where Ren was looking behind the sunglasses, but there was probably some friend behind them or-

"Hey Etho," Ren said. "Hey Beef."

Etho glanced behind himself quickly, seeing if Ren was talking about some other Etho and Beef, only to (obviously) come up blank.

"Uh, hey dude?" Beef answered Ren, when Etho forgot to speak.

Etho, unable to find words, only waved curtly, with emotionless eyes. He was so grateful for his face covering half of his face sometimes. He still had no idea how he and Doc stood, and didn't want to be put in some scheme or messenger boy position.

"Listen, I know you might not like me right now." Ren took a deep breath, "But I just wanted to sincerely apologize for the party. To Etho especially. Beef, you left before the drinks were unknowingly spiked and things got crazy, but Etho, I know you did not have a good time and the night was horrible after I promised it would be fun and safe. And I am truly sorry, my dude."

"Oh," Etho looked up, slightly uncomfortable with the direct eye contact. He broke it off before continuing. "Uhm, I forgive you."

"Thank you so much dude." Ren relaxed a little, but held no more confidence than before.
"And again I'm so sorry, it will never happen again." Ren repeated, slightly awkwardly backing away from the table now that he had said what he wanted to. Etho nodded and Beef stayed silent, letting Ren turn to leave.

"Well that was uh..." Etho started to trail off, at a loss for words.

"Awkward, but kind." Beef finished for him.

"Yeah."

They watched as Ren walked up to the counter to order, passing Doc silently. They almost winced at it, but Doc spoke up, saying something and waving. Ren's tail wagged slightly and his mouth curved into a nervous smile as he answered. They weren't back to 100%, but at least it was better.

"Hey uh, question E-" Beef started, trying to guide the conversation back to normal.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think maybe being friends with- or having a truce with- Bdubs, is what kept you up?"

"Huh?" Etho took a second to think about it. He had felt way better after the conversation, even if he had lied through his teeth with half of the things he said (Bdubs didn't need to be embarrassed like that, and neither did Etho) and he had replayed it over and over in his head afterwards. Maybe it would just be casual, or they would become as close as him and Beef or Doc, but either way, he had a new friend.

"Nah. Probably not." Etho shrugged.

----

Bdubs was putting new stacks of cups into place as Cleo walked in. Normally it was quiet working between the two unless one or the other had gossip to share, so it was a bit of a surprise when Cleo visibly lightened up, like she had realized something, and started talking immediately.

"Oh Bdubs! You had to run off to classes so quickly before I never got to tell you," Cleo started, getting his attention quickly. "We paid off the ambulance bill completely!"

Bdubs paused, short circuiting as he processed the information and his lips slowly curved into a wide smile. "Wait- wait really?"

"Yup!" Cleo beamed. "Couldn't have done it without all of you. Thank you so much."

"No- of course! We did it!" Bdubs smiled. "Oh wait we have to tell Keralis-"

"Already did." Cleo interrupted, "He was there when I finished off the last of the paperwork."

"What are you talking about?" Grian stepped into the room. "You both look awfully happy."

"We paid off the bill!" Bdubs exclaimed. "It's done!"

"Oh that's great," Grian smiled genuinely, but something was lacking from it. "One thing to check off the list." He whispered.

"And right in time for Halloween too." Cleo grinned. "Best holiday ever in perfect time."

"Well I'd call you biased," Grian smirked, "But I guess scares and pranks aren't too bad for a holiday."

"No egging houses again, Grian." Cleo deadpanned.

"What? Why would you accuse me of such a thing? You have no proof it was me."

"You were wearing the same chicken costume-"

"Duplicates can be made, you know!"

The group chuckled, letting the accusatory conversation slip off so a new conversation could start. It was all a bit of teasing anyway and didn't really need to be stretched on so that the joke was lost.

"Well we actually have a bit extra for decorations if the two of you would like to help me buy them tomorrow?" Cleo mentioned, "It might attract more customers."

"Oh sorry," Grian said. "I'm busy tomorrow actually."

"No problem, it's your day off." Cleo nodded. "Bdubs is more of an interior guy anyway."

"Yeah, I can help!" Bdubs nodded. "I'm thinking of real spiderwebs in that corner and we can dig up the floorboards to put a real gravestone in the corner. I even already have a dead body we can use to cut costs and time."

"Perfect, exactly what I was thinking." Cleo nodded, stifling a laugh way better than Bdubs was trying to hide his grin.

The doorbell rang, catching their attention for a second to see if it was a customer about to order or someone else.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm a tad bit late! Jellie was just not cooperating this morning." Scar apologized as he wheeled in, nodding his head to wave instead of lifting up either arm.

"Ah Scar," Cleo greeted, "No worries, just telling everyone about our budget for Halloween decorations."

"Oh great! This place could use a little switch up from the regular." Scar smiled. "I'll let you off the hook now Cleo, you're a free zombie!"

"I'll let you think you're in charge for today." She smiled with a confident undertone to her words. "I'm in too good a mood to correct you today."

Cleo untied her apron easily, resting it on the hook before turning around. She flipped her hair behind her back, waving to the others simply as she strided towards the door with an energy to her that seemed to be lacking lately. There was a chorus of byes from the 3 of them, and then a few more from the familiar customers near the door who mostly just waved.

"What's got her in such a good mood?" Scar chuckled. "Not that I mind of course, but she was smiling a lot more than normal."

Grian glanced at Bdubs, then just tapped out, walking away and leaving Bdubs to explain. He was not in the mood too, and Bdubs didn't feel like arguing at the moment either, no matter how annoying the gesture was.

"So Scar, there's something I need to tell you." Bdubs said, his tone of voice getting Scar's full attention very quickly.

"Hmm?"

"So uh, we were kinda hiding this thing behind your back, and I'm not really sure how to even start but uh-" Bdubs was already starting to struggle, but Scar was patient, letting him take his time. "Right so remember when you had to go to the hospital recently? Well of course you do that was a dumb question. Uhm, well remember the bill?"

"Yes?" Scar answered, still confused.

"And that was paid off normally, but the ambulance bill was like, really bad, and we just got that paid off with our tips, but we didn't tell you because we didn't want you to feel like it was your fault- because it wasn't of course!- but uhm yeah. I thought you should know, because it was kinda about you and I don't want it to twist into something bad and a spindle of lies over time."

Scar paused for a few seconds, almost a minute, as he slowly processed everything he said. His face twisted into an unreadable expression and Bdubs wasn't sure what to expect.

It was not laughter.

"Ha!" Scar chuckled, smiling up at Bdubs. "Oh that's nice of you Bdubs. Knew about it though."

"You- what?"

"I knew about it." Scar shrugged. "It was nice of you to think about me like that, but I'm a big boy Bdubs; I can handle it."

"Wait- you knew? How long? Or this whole time? Or-"

"I heard about when Grian and Keralis were trying to count up tips and couldn't figure out how to count money correctly for a solid 4 minutes. I swooped in to help, they gave me my share, and when I was wheeling out I saw an extra jar in the backroom a little out of place with an extra few coins dropped near it. And well, leaving a jar close to the edge is just bound to fall over and break, so I did the right thing to push it back a little further and maybe read the label."

Bdubs's jaw dropped slightly at the new information.

"You might want to tell whoever wrote that to write it a little bigger, and maybe neater too. I have dyslexia after all."

"So you really knew? Most of this time?"

"Yup, I contributed my tips too, under all of your noses. You better get some cool decorations with that extra money for me. I wouldn't say no to another witch or wizard hat either." Scar smiled, wheeling past Bdubs towards the counter. Bdubs was about to say something else, but stopped and shook his head, filing it as another Scar thing.

"Ok then."

Bdubs might have to invest some of that decoration money into a cape or wand for Scar. partially for contributing to the bill, and partially for managing to keep it a secret from everyone, no matter how bad a liar he usually was. 

---------

(2726 words above the line!)

sorry for such a long wait!! life us hectic right now between catching up on school work i'm behind on (thats what happens when you miss a week of school!) and really fun smoke in the air and fires evacuation preparation! The next chapter is a Halloween one, which is very satisfying thats it's the 31st chapter too. No guarantee I'll get it out on time for the best holiday but I really hope I do!

Have a great day or night, especially if I don't post on halloween and then have an amazing halloween night! Make cool costumes and scam strangers for double your weight in candy!